Electric system for automobiles.



E. A, HALBLEB. ELEGTRIG SYSTEM FOR AUTOMOBILES. APPLIGATION FILM 0019.1911.

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$28 /6 :fem r's n unirse ernstigs ifnrnnr EDWARD A. HALBLEIB, OFROCHESTER. NEW' YRK, A-SSIGNOB.- TO NORTH EAST ELEC TRI() COMPANY, OFROCHESTER, NEW' YORK, A CORPORATION 0F NEIN YORK.

ELECTRIC SYSTEM FOR AUTOMOBILES.

1,11c,s s.

B a it knoun that I., Enwano A. HALBLnin. a citizen of the liuitcdStates, and resident ot' Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State otNeu York, have invented certain new and useful llinprm'cruent-t inElectric Systems for i^utomobilesot' which the following is aspectitication.

This invention relates to electric systems of the three-wire type,particularly to systems such as are used upon automobiles W. erein adynamo-electric machine is employed, alternately, as a generator tocharge a storage-laittcry and provide current tor illumination and otherpurposes, and as a motor, energized by current from a storagebattery, toprovide engine of the vehicle.

In a system of the kind in question it is common to employ a.dili'erentially-Wound generator haring a series opposition field-Winding. the storage-battery being connected in series with thisfield-winding and with the armature of the generator. `It is alsopreferable in such ,a system to employ the three-wire type ofdistribution to the electric lights of the vehicle. employing three mainconductors, of which two eX- tend from the terminals ot thegeneratorarmature, while the third extends from `the central electrodeor `point ot neutral E. M. F. in the battery.

In an arrangement such as that just referred to the series field-windingof the generator is interposed between one of the battery-terminals andthe corrcspondin';l` main' conductor of the distributing circuit.Accordingly, when the battery is providing current for energizing theelectric lights.r it will be apparent that the resistance of thisfield-winding tends to imbalance the three- Wire system, so as to causea greater How of current in the other branch of the threewire circuit,and thus an unequal discharging of the two halves of the battery.

The object of the present invention is to avoid this unbalanced actionin the system, and to this e'nd I 'propose t0 introduce, at the oppositeside ot the battery from the series field-Winding of the generator, acoil or other suitable resistancedcvice having resistance substantiallyequal to that of the field-winding in question, so as to restore thebalance of thelsystem.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 9, 1911.

power for starting the Serial No. 653,670.

The invention isv illustrated as ay system 1n which furnished to gine.The armature l of connected with a connected, hyfn'ieans such as a beltor chai erator has a shunt field-,Winding 5, and a ployed in connectionwith 7, which 1s floated upon the generator'and of the lighting-circuit.

sha tt, and current and a wire 18, tothe thence back to the armature.

the battery when the generator' when the vehicle is not in use. vices'are well known used for this purpose,

herein.

ployed in a' Well-known manner to regula the generator.

fiows through this winding. and as rl to cut down thfv l generator,

ay wire 14:, throng through a wire 15, a fixed contact 16, acontact-finger 17, return-wire 13, and

b which the storaOe-batterv is charged D w e Patented Nov. i0, time..

applied to the same dynamo electric machine is em' loyed as a generator,when the engine of t e vehicle is normally operating, and as a motor bywhich power may be s'tart the operation of thecnthe generator is shaft2, and this shaft is" 3, with the shaft 4 of the engine!j Thegenopposition field-uindingr G, and it is e1n a storage-battery theline, that is to say, is connected to the terminals both ofReterring'particularly to the diagram, in charging he battery thearmature l is actuated by power derived from the enginethen flows 'fromthe armature through a `wire 8 to a reverse-current cut-out 9, andthence, through a wire 10, to the opposition field-winding 6. From wire11, to and through thc storage-battery the battery. and the curif. A.

At the same time the lieldenerglzed by current Flowing,

The cut-out 9 is a device for preventing return-flow of current to thearmature from is at rest, thus normally preventing waste ofl current Assuch dean'd are frequently the construction of the cut-out is notillustrated or described The opposition field-winding 6 is ein- As abovestated, the eri-rent Winding is arranged in the opposite sense from themain fieldwinding .3. the current iiowing in the opposition-r.'hidingand Ithrough the battery tends. as it increases, strength of the fielde? the thus automatically limiting the electromotive force and the flowof current through the storage-battery. This arrangement in itseli' isnot novel, and is not claimed herein.

The fixed contact 16 and contact-linger 17 constitute parts of a devicefor automatically interrupting the charging-current when the battery hasbeen lully charged. The contaetiinger is connected With, and actuatedby, a core 2l cooperating with a solenoid 20. This solenoid isconstantly energized by a current of slight amplitude flowing from thebattery through the Wire 1l, the opposition held-winding 6 and wires l0and 19 to the solenoid, and thence, through the Wire 12,back to thebattery. Accordingly as the E. M. F. increases 1t finally reaches apoint corresponding to a full charge in the battery, at which point themagnetic force of the solenoid is suiiicient to raise the core 21 andthe contacttinger, thus disengaging the latter from the fixed contact 1Gand denergizing the eldwinding 5, whereupon the generator ceases tosupply current to charge the battery. This arrangement in itself is notnovel, and is not claimed a part of the. present invention.

To cause the generator above described to operate as a motor, it isnecessary to provide for a return-flow of current from the batterythrough the generator, and in a covrangement is employed in the presentinstance. A Wire 23 extends from the Wire S to a movable contact-finger22, which is adapted to engage a fixed contact 24: connected with thevire 1G. The contact-finger is connected, by rod 25, with amanuallyoperable lever 26, and when this lever is raised thecontacteinger is caused to engage @raid xed Contact, thus closingl ashort-circuit around the cut-out. and thereupon the armature limmediately rotates, thus rotating the shaft. 2 and transmitting powerto the engine-shaft by which' the engine may be started.

For the purpose of shortcirc'uiting the opposition-winding G after thegenerator has started in operation as a motor a'second fixed contact 39is provided, this contact being connected, through a wire 40, With thewire ll. The Contact 39 is shorter vthan the contact 24 so as to beengaged after the latter by the continued movement of the contact-inger,and the eontact-inger thus acts rst to throw the two field-windings inseries and then to short-circuit the oppositionovinding, thus reducingthe effective number of turns and the resistance of the field-winding.

T he power or" the generator may be further employed, as, for example,to compress air or, as in my said application, to force combustiblemixture into the engine-cylinder, and I havel illustrated means lforthis purpose comprising a pinion splined upon the shait 2 and engaged bythe lever 26, a. gear QS journaled adjacent to, but normally out ofengagement with, the pinion 27, and van air-puinp :29 actuated by aconnectingrod pivoted to the gear 28. When the lever is shii'ted asabove described it carries the pinion Q7 into engagement with the gear28, and accordingly the air-pump is aetuated, and it ope "ates to drawair from a suitable carbureter and force it into the cylinder. Thisarrangement constitutes, in itself, no part oi the present invention andis notclaimed herein.

A featureor the invention resides in the connection of thelighting-circuits with the parts already described. In the drawing-lhave illustrated lamps 32, which may be ordinary incandescent lamps oflo\vvoltage; eight volts, for example, being a commercial type which maybe conveniently used. These lamps are arranged in two series of twolamps each, one series being connecte-:i by a Wire and the other seriesby a Wire 34. The Wires 33 and 34 extend between the main conductors 30and 31, which are connected with the respective poles of thestorage-battery 7 The lamps are illustrated in pairs, because this isthe manner in which they areordinarily used, one lamp of each pair beingemployed in one of the side-lights ot' the automobile, and the otherlanipin the other corresponding side-light. It is obvious that in thisarrangement the extinction oi one lamp of pair, through breakage of itslilament or other internal cause, would' ordinarily result in theextinction of both lamps in series, if these lamps were connected in theusual manner. As this would be a serious detect, however, in anautomobile lighting system, l employ a neutral conductor which isconnected with each of the wires 33 and 34 between the lamps fed by saidWires, being thus at a point ot' substantial neutral E. M. F.; and thiscon-n ductor extends back to the storage-battery and is there connectedto a pole midway between the terminals of the battery, and thus at apoint of neutral E. M. F. in the battery.

lVhen all oi the lamps 32 are burning there is no substantial liow ofcurrent in the conductor 35, but the full E. M. F. of the batteryemployed in energizing the 'lamp circuits, the voltage of eachlamp-circuit cor'- respondiug to the Voltage of 'the entire battery.Ii", however, either .of the lamps 32 be extinguished, thus breaking thecircuit at that point, the other lamp normally in series therewithcontinues to operate, for

current then begins to iiow through a new circuit including said lamp,and supplied through the conductor and one of the main Wires 30 and 31.This new circuit is energizedby only one-half of the storagebattery, sothat the voltage corresponds to that of they single lamp. Upon theaceidental extinction of oneof the side lights of the automobile,therefore the corresponding side-light continues to/burn, thus avoidingthe complete darkness which would result if both lights wereextinguished.

Owing to the interposition of the opposition-winding 6 between oneterminal of the battery and the corresponding main Wire 30, it may bepreferable to intei'pose a certain amount of resistance in the conductor12 to compensate for the resistance of the Winding 6, which is not feltwhen current is flowing through the local circuit including the wires35, 3l, 12, and the right-hand branch of one or both of thelamp-circuits. Accordingly, a resistance-coil or equivalent device 36 isillustrated as employed for this purpose.

It will be understood that the specific voltages attributed to theseveral parts of the apparatus in the illustrated embodiment of theinvention are selected for purposes of illustration, and that othervoltages may be employed in this connection.

In the case of lamps employed otherwise than as the side-lights of theautomobile, as, for example, in the interior of the vehicle, it is notalways desirable to employ lamps with low voltage; in fact, lamps ofhigher voltage may be preferable, and such lamps may be connected acrossthe main wires 30 and 81, as in the case of the -amp 37 illustrated asso connected by mear s of a Wire 38.

1n a three-Wire electric system, the oombination, with adiferentially-wound generator, a storage-batteryy in series with thearmature'and the seies-Windingof the 'generator, and main conductorsextending, respectively, from the op osite terminals of the armature andthe point of neutral E. M. F. in the battery, of a resistance-deviceinterposed between one battery-terminal and the correspondingarmature-terminal, to balance the resistance' of the series-winding onthe opposite side ot' the battery.

EDWARD A. HALBLEIB.

Witnesses L. THON, D. GURNEE.

